Economy Structure
For New Zealand’s new National-led Government to be, John Key and future Finance Minister Bill English are rushing to set up shop for reasons far more pressing than the drive to assume power.
Officials from the Treasury and the RBNZ are expected to brief Key and English on the updated economic growth forecasts (or, presumably, growth deficits) any day now. It is expected that employment rates and the Government’s accounts will be looking the darkest. With the NZD exchange rates currently still sitting under 60 US cents, the pre-election fiscal updates that were released are expected to look even worse now than a month ago.
The pre-election fiscal and economic update (Prefu) was released in early October, however the data was finalised at the end of August, meaning foreign rate Killer Pad video and other economic forecasts were not representative of the financial crisis to come in later months. It is expected that shortfalls will amount to around $1 billion more than as released in the Prefu.
Not since 1990 has a Prime Minister-elect arrived at Parliament the day after the election has a Government faced such financial disarray. Some 18 years ago, National came to power with Jim Bolger at the helm after a Labour-led term, and was told that the mostly State-owed Bank of New Zealand immediately needed a large injection of cash.
For more information on NZ’s economy and finance, check out our New Zealand finance section, updated daily at 3.30pm.
